Rahen Prietl, of South Bend, was sentenced to three to 20 years, with credit for 120 days served, on charges of conspiracy to commit home invasion and home invasion.

Prietl was reportedly a backseat passenger when suspects pulled into the driveway of the home, where two women were inside. When one of the women saw the men approaching the house, they hit the panic button on the alarm, scaring them away. A few minutes later, though, they came back to the house, but reportedly fled when they were alerted to police nearby. They were arrested a short distance away.

The defense said that Prietl's role was more of that of a backseat passenger who was along for the ride because he did not have a car, and did not attempt to kick in the door as one of the suspects did.

"He was the least involved of the four involved," Lawrence Quigley, Prietl's lawyer, said.

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But, Fitz said the episode has shaken the family that lives at the home, adding they now live in fear and will not let anyone be alone at the home.

"This was an extremely dangerous episode," he said.

The other defendants, some of whom are accused of other home invasions around the same time, still have court cases pending.